Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko

KIEV, September 10. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the ceasefire declared last Friday has proved “very hard to implement” but no full-scale hostilities are underway in the country’s east at the moment.

Speaking at an enlarged meeting of the Cabinet on Wednesday Poroshenko pointed to the need for holding consultations with OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) officials and the special group of observers to let "the organization assume the lion’s share of the responsibility for monitoring, verification and strict enforcement of the ceasefire by all parties".

Some 700 Ukrainian soldiers captured by self-defense forces during combat actions in the embattled Ukraine’s south-east have been released since the ceasefire agreement came into force last Friday, Poroshenko said. “About 500 more Ukrainian soldiers are waiting to be released,” Poroshenko said at a governmental session.

Russian and Ukrainian Presidents Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko are satisfied that a ceasefire is holding in eastern Ukraine, an aide to the Russian leader Yury Ushakov said on Wednesday.

Ushakov said that Putin and Poroshenko had discussed the issue on the phone on Tuesday. "However, both sides understand that the process is complicated and is not perfectly smooth," Ushakov said.